The Japanese government held the "Sado Mine Memorial Ceremony" near the Sado Mine in Niigata Prefecture, a site of forced labor for Koreans during the Japanese colonial period, but once again made no mention of forced Korean labor this year.

According to Kyodo News, Hamamoto Yukiya, the Foreign Ministry's Deputy Director-General for International Cultural Exchange (director-level) who attended today's memorial ceremony as the Japanese government representative at a public hall in Sado City, Niigata Prefecture, stated in his memorial address that "workers from the Korean Peninsula engaged in grueling labor during the war in the dangerous and harsh environment inside the mines."

He went on to express condolences, saying, "Regrettably, there are also those who lost their lives here," but his memorial remarks were largely similar to those from the year before last and last year, making no mention of the coercive nature of the Korean labor at the time.

The memorial ceremony was hosted by an executive committee composed of Niigata Prefecture, Sado City, and local civic groups, with about 70 attendees laying chrysanthemums and offering a moment of silence for the victims.

Ever since the Sado Mine was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Japanese government has failed to mention forced Korean labor for three consecutive years at the memorial ceremonies held annually since 2024.

The memorial ceremony is a measure promised by Japan to secure South Korea's cooperation in July 2024, when Tokyo was pushing for the Sado Mine's World Heritage designation amid Seoul's demands to reflect the full history, including forced Korean labor.

The South Korean government stated on the 9th, "We have continued serious discussions with the Japanese side so that this year's (Sado Mine) memorial ceremony could be held properly, but we failed to reach a mutual agreement on key issues," announcing once again its intention not to attend the Japanese-hosted memorial ceremony.

As a wide gap in views persisted between South Korea and Japan regarding the name of the event and the content of the memorial address concerning the forced nature of Korean labor from the time Japan prepared its first memorial ceremony in 2024, the South Korean government has been holding separate annual memorial ceremonies for the victims of the Sado Mine.

Announcing its boycott of the Japanese-led Sado Mine memorial ceremony again this year, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized, "The government takes note of the relevant decisions by the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee and urges the Japanese side to faithfully and fully implement the recommendations set forth in those decisions."

The Sado Mine is a location renowned for gold mining during the Edo period (1603–1867) and was later utilized as a mine to secure wartime supplies after the full-scale outbreak of the Pacific War.

During this period, colonized Koreans were forcibly mobilized and subjected to harsh environments and discrimination while working.

The mine's inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage site was decided at the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee held in New Delhi, India, in July 2024.

Ahead of the inscription, the South Korean government demanded that Japan reflect the "entire history," including forced Korean labor, at the Sado Mine, and Japan accepted this demand.

However, criticisms have continued to follow that the fact of forced labor has not been sufficiently expressed.

The resolution adopted at the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee held in Busan last July also assessed that while there had been "some progress" by the Japanese side in fulfilling the World Heritage Committee's recommendations to establish interpretation and exhibition strategies reflecting the "entire history" of the Sado Mine, it was not sufficient.

Local media outlets have also pointed out that the Japanese-led memorial ceremony is being conducted in a merely formal manner.

Kyodo News also pointed out that although the Niigata Prefectural Archives holds a roster of Korean laborers mobilized to the Sado Mine, it has not made the records public.

It is known that 1,519 Koreans were forced to labor at the Sado Mine between 1940 and 1945.

(Photo: Yonhap News)